One of the most difficult problems to overcome in designing and implementing a gas detector is the inconsistency in gas absorbance over an entire temperature range (e.g., −55 to +85 degrees Celsius). Multiple iterations of temperature testing and significant time are required to obtain correct absorbance values. This also imposes a limitation in terms of the detector's ability to support dynamic gas types or ranges.
Referring to FIG. 1A, a method 10 for populating gas correction tables is shown. In block 12, a temperature chamber is manually controlled to simulate many different ambient temperatures. In block 14, a designer or operator mixes many different gas concentrations. In block 16, a gas detection surface of the detector is populated manually for gas absorption at each temperature of block 12. In block 18, the detector's firmware is modified to feed the absorption values back into the detector or to change a formula to ensure that a correct gas concentration is calculated at each temperature.
The method 10 typically takes weeks to complete and may have to be repeated multiple times in order to gain confidence in the accuracy of the results. Moreover, detectors are typically limited to pre-defined gas types or ranges. Each time the designer wants to add a new gas type, or modify properties or parameters associated with a gas currently being monitored by a detector, the detector's firmware needs to be updated.